Jython talk. Dublin. Wed 8th November.

I will be giving a talk on jython at this months python.ie meeting.

Details here.

The organisers are interested in getting a feel for number of attendees so if you are planning on attending, drop an e-mail to the mailing list.

Sean

WIKI JotSpot Google

There seems to have been remarkable little coverage of the acquisition of jotspot by Google. FAQ here. Maybe I missed the buzz. Maybe there wasn't any.

Interoperability as a state of mind

"ASCII or no ASCII, XML or no XML, a truly interoperable file format is one that has been designed specifically for that purpose, not one that organically grows out of internal defensive programming practices.

Interoperability is a state of mind. You need to be thinking about the other guy to do it right. Only people whose job description includes thinking about the other guy, have the luxury of doing so." -- Interoperability as a state of mind

Pizza

From the window of his apartment, Bob watched The Pizza Man start his journey. As he started his stop watch he thought to himself: "30 minutes or it's free.".

The inevitability of cruft

Cruft in the software getting you down? Go get a cup of something and read the inevitability of cruft. It won't make the cruft go away but it might explain why the cruft is there in a way that makes it easier to cope with.

Purple haze in Portland

I visited Powells yesterday in Portland, Oregon.

What an amazing bookshop! I was hyperventilating trying to figure out how best to visit all the sections that looked interesting. I started at the A-Z of Western Philosophy in the Purple Room and it was an hour before I arrived at Wittgenstein. Powells section on Aristotle is bigger than the entire Phil section of most other bookshops I've been in (with the exception of the wonderful Blackwells in Oxford.

I have a weakness for classic art instruction books of the Andrew Loomis, Victor Perard variety. By the time I got to this part (in the Pearl room, 3rd floor), my arms were already laden with books. I "escaped" from that room having added just two more.

By the time I arrived at the technical books shop two blocks away from The City of Books I was a giggling wreck.

I didn't buy anything in the computer section (time for a change of career perhaps?). I did however, spend a very enjoyable few minutes in the little computer museum they have there. They have a Sinclair ZX80 (One of the high end ones - the one with 16k of RAM. Mine had 1k.). They have a Commodore 64 (I hated those things), an Apple 2 (CP/M - I remember it well. I was a Visical programmer in 1985), a trash 80, a fat Mac...

A very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Eat something before you go and wear confortable shoes.

Dave Stewart RIP

Sad news today. Dave Stewart, IT journo and blogger has passed away. Bernie has some words to say.
The photo on Bernie's site looks familiar. I think I was sitting just out of frame to the right.
Dave blogged the ups and downs of his treatment on his blog http://sciencefriction.typepad.com/science_friction.

Few things in cyberspace are more poignant than a personal blog that...ends.